Garment construction



NOV. 22, 1955 c, SAFTLAS GARMENT CONSTRUCTION Filed May 8, 1953 illllilillillidl INVENTOR CELIA SAFTLAs ATTORNEYS United States Patent GARMENT CONSTRUCTION Celia Saftlas, Maplewood, N. J.

Application May 8, 1953, SerialNo. 353,792

1 Claim. (Cl. 2-70) This invention relates to improved means for releasably connecting the members of a two piece garment together, and more particularly to improved means for releasably securing an upper garment, such as a shirt or waist, to a lower garment, such as pants, shorts, or a skirt.

One object, irrespective of the type of garment involved, is to provide a construction for the said purpose which affords greater comfort, a neater appearance and economies: in manufacture than constructions previously available.

A further object is to provide a construction which in securing the garment members together, and in place on the wearer, combines the principle of suspension and constriction in a manner to provide a novel mode of interdependent operation and function which provides the advantages above pointed out and which is adaptable to a wide range of garment combinations and various character of garments.

Other and further objects and advantages residing in the details of construction will be made apparent in the disclosure of the accompanying drawings and in the following specification and claim.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a child's garment, namely, a two piece creeper, embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view, on a larger scale, of one of the connections between the upper and lower garment members, as shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detail view showing the preferred manner of attaching the button element to the upper garment member;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary detail view showing one manner of securing the loop element to the waist band of the lower garment member; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary side elevational view parts being broken away showing a modified structure as applied to a slacks and shirt combination.

Referring to the drawings 1 designates generally the upper or shirt member of the creeper and 2 designates the lower or pants member of the creeper. The members 1 and 2 may be made in any desired design or pattern and from any suitable knit, textile or other material.

The .upper member 1 is made of sufficient length to tuck into and be overlapped by the waist band of the lower member 2 when the garment is worn.

The shirt member 1 is provided at the sides with buttons 3, or their equivalent. The buttons 3 are positioned at the intended waist line of the creeper, the portion 4 of the shirt member below the buttons being that part which is tucked into the upper portion of the pants member, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

Preferably, and as best shown in Fig. 3, where the shirt member is formed with vertical side seams 5 the buttons 3 are stitched or otherwise secured as at 6 to the side seams 5. By this arrangement the portion of the strain carried by the buttons, as later described, is transmitted by the seam 5 to the shoulders with a mini- 2. mum tendency to distort the fabric of the garment which is of particular advantage when the garment is of knit material.

The waist band, generally indicated at 7, of the lower or pants member is formed of elastic material, which in its contracted .unstretched condition is of less diameter than the waist of the wearer.

As best shown in Fig. 4 the waist band 7 is formed of a strip of elastic material. 8, such as elastic webbing, folded on itself as at 9 and stitched as at 10 to the upper edge of the pants member 2. The material of strip 8 may derive its elasticity from rubber threads knit or woven into the fabric, from the character of knitting stitch employed, a combination of the two, or by being formed of rubber or other inherently elastic material.

Secured to the lower edge of strip 8, or to the upper edge of member 2, inwardly of the band 7, and positioned to be in alignment with the buttons 3 when the garment is being worn, are loops 11 formed of elastic material, such as elastic cord or narrow elastic webbing.

Conveniently and as shown in Fig. 4, the loops 11 may be secured by the stitching 10. The length of the loops If is such that they do not extend above the upper edge of the waist band 7.

When the garment is being worn the loops 11 are engaged over the buttons 3, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, thus holding the garment members together.

While the invention has been described as applied to a two piece type of creeper garment, it will be understood that it is not limited to such use, but is equally applicable to other types of two piece garments, and that the garment members may be interchangeable. For example, shorts and slacks constructed according to the invention may be used interchangeably with the same or a variety of upper garment members.

Further, while only two buttons and loops, positioned at the sides of the garment are shown, additional buttons and loops may be used if desired.

The combination of the contractible or constrictive elastic waist band with the elastic loops extending upwardly from the lower edge of the waist band, inwardly thereof, and with the loop of a length such that the button to which it is attached lies under the band, provides a novel interaction between the garment members which adds materially to the comfort of the wearer. The interengagement of the elastic loops and buttons yieldingly prevent separation of the garment members. The constriction of the elastic band while assisting in preventing garment separation and reducing the suspensien load need not be severe enough to afford discomfort but does keep the garments in snug overlapped and neat relation while permitting shifting of the garments to afford full freedom of motion to the wearer. Preferably the elastic waist band is flexible enough to bend around the button to snugly engage the upper member, avoiding gapping between the upper and lower member.

The position of the buttons and loops at the sides of the garment relieves the connections of undue strain in forward and back bending movements of the wearer and even when additional connections are employed at the front and back the elasticity of the loop prevents destrucrive strain on the fabric at the point of attachment of the buttons.

Where found desirable the loop element may be carried by the upper garment and the button carried by the lower garment as shown in Fig. 5 which shows the invention applied to a slacks and shirt combination. In the construction of Fig. 5 the waist band 15 of the slacks 16 is provided with a button 17 and the shirt member 18 is provided with a downwardly extending loop 19 of elastic cord or narrow webbing sewed or otherwise secured to the shirt 18 as indicated at 20. The loop 19 is dimensioned and the button 17 so positioned that the loop is normally covered by the button. For the reasons previously described the waist band 15 is preferably both elastic and flexible, however, if desired the Waist-wise constriction maybe supplied by an outer belt, not shown, where a conventional appearance is wanted.

Whatever the type of garment combination upper and lower garments of different color or style may be variously and interchangeably combined to provide a wide range in style, appearance and utility. Thus in play suits a white or solid colored shirt or upper member may be combined with figured shorts, slacks or skirts or vice versa and from a given stock, combinations to meet the purchasers desires may be made up and when several garments of different style or color are purchased the purchaser may use the units in varying combinations.

Whatever combination is used, the improved construction assures neatness of appearance and wearing comfort, with a longer useful life of the garment due to the flexibility of the connection between the garment elements, and the controlled interrelation between the elastic suspension and constrictive forces by which the garment members are secured together and held in place on the wearer;

What is claimed is:

In a two piece garment combination including upper and lower members, the lower portion of the upper member extending within the upper portion of the lower member; a continuous, circular waistband, the upper edge portion of the lower member being turned inwardly and downwardly and having its edge gathered and stitched to the lower edge of the waistband, the waistband being uniformly and resiliently circumferentially stretchable throughout its circumferential extent, said gathering at the stitching permitting substantially unrestricted stretching of the waistband and providing an outwardly extending fullness in said inwardly and downwardly turned upper edge portion of the lower member, a single pair of button receiving loops of elastic material positioned one at each side of the lower member inwardly of the waistband and stitched at their lower ends only to the lower edge of the waistband to leave the loops free for vertical stretch independent of the waistband and lateral swinging about their point of attachment at the lower edge of the Waistband, the upward extent of said loops being less than the upward extent of the waistband, and a single pair of buttons carried by the upper garment member in position to be respectively engaged by said loops.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,010,345 Brewster Aug. 6, 1935 2,042,192 Rubin May 26, 1936 2,180,346 Brewster Nov. 21, 1939 2,277,227 Hardie Mar. 24, 1942 2,442,749 Callahan et al. June 8, 1948 2,559,953 Evans July 10, 1951 

